Harry Partch

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Harry Partch

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Harry Partch 1901-74, American composer, b. Oakland, Calif. Highly individualistic and largely self-taught, Partch rejected many of the traditions of Western music. He developed a theory of "corporeal" music based on "harmonized spoken words," capturing the patterns of real speech and uniting text with music. The technique is exemplified by works such as Account of the Normandy Invasion by an American Glider Pilot, based on a recording of the pilot's recollections. Partch also wrote music based on such sources as newsboy cries, hitchhiker inscriptions, and hobo descriptions, the latter drawn from his own several years of experience riding the rails. Another of his innovations was the division of the octave into a 43-note scale. He designed and built string, keyboard, and percussion instruments to play the music composed from this scale and his iconoclastic book Genesis of a Music (1949) explains his tunings and theories. Partch wrote several stage works, including, in 1952, music for William Butler Yeats's adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus.

Bibliography: See T. McGeary, ed., Bitter Music: Collected Journals, Essays, Introductions, and Librettos (1991, repr. 2000); biography by B. Gilmore (1998).

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Partch, Harry

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Partch, Harry (b Oakland, Calif., 1901; d San Diego, 1974). Amer. self-taught composer and inventor. Comp. several large works before he was 25 but destroyed them. Wandered over USA during depression as hobo. In 1943, while a lumberjack, he received Guggenheim award enabling him to develop 20 instrs. he had invented. He used system of intonation with 43 notes to octave; instrs. incl. the ‘marimba eroica’, ‘chromelodeon’, etc. Research assoc., Wisconsin Univ. 1944–7. Works incl. Windsong, Barstow, 2 Settings from Finnegans Wake, and And on the 7th Day Petals Fell in Petaluma.

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MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Partch, Harry." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Jul. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Partch, Harry." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (July 9, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-PartchHarry.html

MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Partch, Harry." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved July 09, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-PartchHarry.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Free Article Harry Partch: Japan Society.(Delusion of the Fury)(Theater review)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 4/1/2008
Free Article Harry Bertoia at Robert Miller.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 7/1/2000
Free Article (sound recording review) (sound recording reviews)
Magazine article from: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine); 7/8/1997

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Harry Partch: Japan Society.(Delusion of the Fury)(Theater review)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 4/1/2008; ; 640 words ; Harry Partch's musical drama Delusion of the Fury premiered...the limited rehearsal schedule obliged Partch to concentrate exclusively on the music...transportation and repair of his instruments, Partch vowed, I won't do this again. A recent restaging... Read more
Harry Bertoia at Robert Miller.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Art in America; 7/1/2000; ; 429 words ; ...contemporary of David Smith, Herbert Ferber and Richard Lippold, Harry Bertoia exhibited at the Staempfli Gallery in the '50s, '60s...sound and motion into sculpture that I know of. Other than Harry Partch, the famous California inventor of instruments, and the contemporary... Read more
(sound recording review) (sound recording reviews)
Magazine article from: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine); 7/8/1997; ; 205 words ; ...incorporation of hymn tunes from the Midwest of his boyhood. Harry Partch's mesmerizing battery of invented instruments segues...anthologies sound like kid stuff. Performers include Cowell and Partch as well as cherished contemporary music specialists such... Read more
"Maximum clarity" and other writings on music.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Magazine article from: Reference & Research Book News; 2/1/2007; 130 words ; ...and address such topics as theory, microtonality, aesthetics and culture, the music of composers such as John Cage, Harry Partch, and Lamonte Young, and his own compositions. The book also contains a discography of available recordings. ([c]20072005... Read more
OBITUARIES.(Vitals)(Obituary)
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 3/14/2003; 700+ words ; ...Harbor, Wash.; four brothers, Everett, Harry and Loyal, all of Eugene, and Kenneth...Louise Radant Frelich. She married Vernon Partch in Washington on Aug. 31, 1941. He died...Elks Lodges. Survivors include a son, Jim Partch of Springfield; a daughter, Jackie Kittleson... Read more
Nancarrow: 1912-1997. (Conlon Nancarrow, compositor norteamericano)(TA: Conlon Nancarrow, Norh American composer)
Magazine article from: Proceso; 8/24/1997; ; 645 words ; ...nombres que podrían aparecer --con brillo propio-- en tales compilaciones tentativas, como Dane Rudhyar (1895-1985) y Harry Partch (1901-1974). Al igual cabrían Henry Brant (1913) o Loy Harrison (1917) e incluso George Antheil (1900-1959) y Carl... Read more
Temper, Temper!
Magazine article from: National Review; 4/7/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...Voice's critic. One key figure in this movement, composer Harry Partch, loudly disdained what he called the harmony-armies of...twelve black and white bars in front of musical freedom. Partch, a thoroughly mediocre composer himself, stirred interest... Read more
Mullin leaves Reader for fellowship. (Jim Mullin)
Magazine article from: San Diego Business Journal; 12/15/1986; ; 700+ words ; ...sociology. He came to San Diego with the intention of study with eccentric musician Harry Partch, one of 20th century America's most unusual musicians. Unfortunately Partch died not long after Mullin's arrival in San Diego. Mullin decided to stay, working... Read more
Peering inside the outlaws.(Entertainment)(Tom Russell celebrates the outsider spirit that has infused his heroes)
Newspaper article from: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR); 3/11/2005; 700+ words ; ...carnival performer who hung out with Bukowski for a time. But the album also pays tribute to Jack Kerouac, Lenny Bruce, Harry Partch, Dave Van Ronk, Rambling Jack Elliott, Merle Haggard, Woody Guthrie and radical environmentalist Edward Abbey. When... Read more
SOUND AND THE FURY.(Review)
Magazine article from: Artforum International; 2/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...music scene was heavily dominated by ivory-tower figures, Feldman also tells us what the outsider, like Charles yes or Harry Partch or himself, knows that the academician doesn't. The latter's reliance on past music for models he calls voodoo tradition... Read more

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